1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to boarding devices for boats. More particularly, it concerns ladder devices for the transom of boats having a platform unit and a step unit that may be moved between a use position with a step thereof immersed in the water in which the boat floats and a storage position where the step is located out of the water, which step when in the use position extends aft of the platform unit and permits a person to climb out of the water and onto the platform unit without the step making any appreciable movement relative to the platform unit during such climb.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of platform and step devices have been developed and marketed for attachment to the transoms of boats to assist in boarding or debarking the boats or to help in moving or working about the stern of the boats. These prior devices can be divided broadly into three classes, i.e,. (1) those that are strictly ladders and provide no real platform function (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,720), (2) those that are strictly platforms and (3) those that provide combination step and platform functions (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,195,680 and 4,462,485). The present invention relates the devices of the third type.
In the devices of the third type in the prior art there is typically a platform that attaches to the boat transom plus some form of depending step arrangement that assists the user of the device to lower or raise his body upon one or more steps positioned at a level below the platform. In some forms of such devices, the depending step or steps are fixed immoveably to the platform while in others the step or steps are hinged or otherwise arranged to move between a lowered, use position and a raised, storage position. The present invention concerns boat ladder devices of the moveable step type.
The prior art devices of the type to which the present invention relates as stated above have some undesirable aspects. For example, many such type prior art devices have a moveably step section mounted to the platform section in a manner that the step section is not sturdily fixed when in the lowered, use position with the result that the user has a difficulty in lifting his body on an unsteady step. This is particularly bothersome when the user is carrying heavy gear, e.g., scuba gear, since the added weight serves to aggravate the unstable conditions. The present invention provides a solution to this type of boat step problem.